02 October 2017

Movie Moments VII: September 2017

Fourteen in September! Not too bad.

Baywatch, 01 September 2017, DVD via RedBox
Look, I'm not proud that I've watched this movie, but I think we can all agree I would never not watch it. The first ten minutes is folks talking about how the Rock changed their lives & comparing ZEfron to boy bands...so it's possibly a documentary? I’ll do some research and get back to you.

Patti Cake$, 02 September 2017, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
This is an entirely predictable musician’s rags-to-less-ragged narrative, but it's played sincere. My heart grew three sizes, etc, etc. It's charming, the band is offbeat and diverse, and Anthony Ramos has, like, a five-minute scene straight out of a funhouse.

Girls Trip, 03 September 2017, McCain Mall Regal Stadium 12
If knowing that Queen Latifah gets into a dance battle doesn't convince you to watch this movie, you and I are looking for very different things in the universe. Also, Jada Pinkett Smith is the tiniest human.

Spotlight, 04 September 2017, DVD via university library
I didn't know a ton about the details about the case, but I thought the way the movie got rolling was fascinating. In the back of my mind I’d pictured a room of reporters champing at the bit, when instead we see a team of competent investigators slowly growing horrified as they dive deep into an issue that’s been washing around their toes for a while. This is written true and acted twice as well. And that coda, nine columns of cities where there were cover-ups of Catholic priests molesting children, hits like a knee to the kidneys.

And I want to say how it's great to see journalism at work, and why, yeah, we need local newspapers, newspapers that need subscribers to keep the lights on, because that's the only these things come to light, but. It's hard not to be demoralized, thinking about the way news happens, or has to happen, now. Are we doomed? Maybe we’re doomed. Power feeds on silence.

National Treasure, 04 September 2017, DVD via Netflix
What rollicking nonsense this is! I could have done without the initial smug male condescension towards Abigail, because SERIOUSLY, dudes, she is entirely within her rights to be pissed and skeptical after being kidnapped and threatened by two separate groups of variably armed thieves. But otherwise! Rollicking! Nonsense!

In Time, 06 September 2017, DVD via public library
  • Why would you engineer folks to stop aging at 25? You’re missing out on at least 35 more years of productivity before most major health issues start being an issue. And, uh, couldn't you genetically engineer away the infirmities, too? WHO APPROVED THIS. I HAVE QUESTIONS.
  • Matt Bomer is excessively handsome, but he in no way can pass as a 25-year-old. Same for Cillian Murphy.
  • Kudos to Olivia Wilde and Vincent Kartheiser on managing to project years into their cadence.
  • I am amused that part of Will’s ability to evade authorities is because rich folks don't know how to power walk.
  • Why are these time trackers so frickin’ easy to hack? This is horrific infrastructural work.
  • They...seriously keep time on portable, material devices? WHO DESIGNED THIS SOCIETY. WTF.
  • This is an excellent indictment of capitalism, but it's also a world made up almost entirely of white folks, so. (Not for nothing did they make the most sympathetic timekeeper a Black man. I see you, casting director.)

Allied, 07 September 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
I got this on Blu-ray because that's what was available, but daaaaang the first scene looked spectacular in HD. Which is weird since the desert and the costumes and all were simply variations of beige, but it looked hella crisp. (Brad Pitt, on the other hand, looked kind of plastic.) The costuming team got an Oscar nomination and, boy howdy, they deserved it. Marion Cotillard glowed, as per usual, and the rest was…telegraphed. And fine. But seriously, the love scene in a sandstorm was perfect and doom-filled and it's worth watching this movie for that scene alone.

All Saints, 09 September 2017, UA Breckenridge Stadium 12
This was a thoroughly wholesome movie, but somehow not too sweet. I was mighty worried about the story of a pastor in Tennessee enfolding a flock of Burmese refugees into his congregation. What's fascinating, I found, is how the movie subverts the “White saviour” trope. Instead, the narrative ends up:
  1. White dude is flawed but big-hearted
  2. Everyone questions White dude’s ego because he has no idea how farming works
  3. White dude works hard with the team, but setbacks occur; manpain happens
  4. Everyone tells White dude to suck it up and keep working
  5. Everything turns out pretty okay
In any case, I came to this movie because YEAH Southeast Asian folks! Nelson Lee, as lead character Ye Win, was marvelous in some incredibly tough scenes. And all the other Asian characters? The actual Karen refugees upon whom the movie is based. #RepresentationMatters

Their Finest, 09 September 2017, DVD via RedBox
Sam Claflin is rather attractive when folks aren't trying to make him look pretty. Also, this is lovely and I cried, and also the star and a significant secondary (queer) character are women who write, and to whom others listen, and we don't have enough of that, even now.

After Earth, 10 September 2017, DVD via university library
The reviews of this movie were pretty dire, and I’ve got to say, it's hard to defend a film that doesn't let Will Smith really smile. (Why leave that in your back pocket?!) And I think we're supposed to feel sympathy for Kitai’s lack of promotion, but it's almost immediately obvious that he’s pretty unfit for ranger duty.

That said, all the tiny details, the everyday feel of the sets--the spaceship especially, and that steady membrane twitch after the crash--and eerie threat of posthuman Earth, are kind of entrancing. I kept rewinding bits to just dwell on what design or biology implied. Overall, it's not quite as bad as the reviews suggest, but I suspect we just expect more from a Will Smith movie? And, possibly, aren't any longer predisposed to giving Shyamalan the benefit of the doubt.

NGL, though: even with all its problems, I would totally watch a sequel to this movie.

Infinitely Polar Bear, 19 September 2027, DVD via public library
Having family members and close friends who are bipolar--some who went undiagnosed for a while--it’s both soothing and anxiety-inducing to watch movies in this oeuvre. It's complicated. Also, I can't decide if the children's acting is horrible or if the writing is horrible. Maybe both? But anyway, I love Zoe Saldana and Mark Ruffalo is a wonder, isn't he?

Attack the Block, 22 September 2017, DVD via public library
Never leave me, John Boyega. That final run was shiveringly perfect.



A Monster Calls, 26 September 2017, DVD via public library
This is quite lovely. While I started out inclined to make Groot jokes, the titular monster is more like Tiresias the Ent. It's didactic, but only so much as all fairy tales are.

Assassin's Creed, 29 September 2017, DVD via public library
It's possible I believe Fassbender might actually wield the power of Magneto. Srsly, though, I have almost no idea what happened in this movie because I was literally reading a cookbook the entire time.

So it was a mixed bag this month. FYI, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is happening in October, so expect a TON of documentary reviews from me. (And absolutely ZERO horror movies.)

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